Vehicle speed detection device with wireless communications capability and methods of use

1. Field

The application discloses vehicle speed detection devices which are used by law enforcement agencies to enforce speed limit laws, and methods for their use.

2. Background

Law enforcement personnel currently use many different types of hand-held, portable vehicle speed detection devices to check the speed of moving vehicles. Such devices can make use or radar, laser and other sensing technologies to determine the speed of the vehicle.

During a typical speed law enforcement action, an Officer parks her or her vehicle on a side of a road, or perhaps on an overpass, and then uses a speed detection device to check the speed of passing vehicles. This may be done while the Officer is in the vehicle, or while the Officer is standing on the side of the road. When a vehicle is found to be exceeding the speed limit, the Officer either directs the driver to pull the speeding vehicle to the side of the road, or chases the vehicle and pulls it over. Then, the Officer usually writes a speeding ticket using a multi-copy, pre-printed form. The Officer gives one copy of the ticket to the driver of the speeding vehicle, and retains at least one copy for his records.

In some situations, the Officer may also use a computer located in his vehicle, or a radio, to request information about the vehicle, the driver, or possibly even a passenger in the vehicle. This information is usually requested from a central authority such as a law enforcement department or from a department of motor vehicles.

To request information about the driver, the Officer would usually have to provide the driver\'s name and/or license number to the central authority. The central authority could then provide such information as a history of prior violations, and whether there are any outstanding arrest warrants.

Likewise, to obtain information about the vehicle, the Officer would usually have to provide the central authority with vehicle identifying information such as the vehicle license or registration number. The central authority could then provide the Officer with information such as whether the vehicle\'s registration is current, the name of the owner, and whether the vehicle has been reported as stolen.

The Officer may then use the aforementioned information to decide whether additional actions are required. For instance, if the vehicle has been reported as stolen, or if there is an outstanding arrest warrant for the driver, the Officer would likely arrest the driver. If the vehicle\'s registration has expired, the Officer might write an additional ticket for this violation.

There are several disadvantages with the methods described above. When an Officer fills out a pre-printed ticket form, the Officer may enter incorrect information. Likewise, in virtually all instances, the information from the form will ultimately be copied into a central computer system, and the information may be incorrectly copied into the computer. This manual process can result in data errors, and it also requires that the same information be entered twice, once by the Officer by hand, and again when the information is input into the computer.

In addition, if an Officer pulls a car over for speeding, the Officer will have to return to his own vehicle to obtain information about the driver or the speeding vehicle through a vehicle-mounted computer or radio. This increases the duration of a traffic stop, and it also increases the amount of time that the Officer and the speeding vehicle are parked on the side of the road. Because vehicles on the side of the road can be hit by other passing vehicles, this increases the danger of the traffic stop for both the Officer and the driver of the speeding vehicle, as well as for any passengers in the speeding vehicle. It also simply increases the time that the Officer must spend to issue the ticket.